FORT MEADE, Md.  The Marine Corps’ top correctional officer says an Army private charged with giving U.S. secrets to WikiLeaks was improperly kept on suicide watch for at least seven days of his nine months’ confinement at a brig in Quantico, Va.

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Abel Galaviz testified Wednesday during a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade for Pfc. Bradley Manning. The hearing is to determine whether Manning’s confinement was so punishing that the case should be dismissed.

Galaviz says the brig commander should have immediately followed psychiatrists’ recommendations to take Manning off suicide watch instead of waiting several days, on two occasions.

Galaviz also testified that a board that made recommendations to the commander about Manning’s confinement conditions used improper procedures.

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At the Nuremberg Trials, after WWII, Nazis were accused of war crimes and some were sentenced to death for their crimes. When they said they were only following the orders of their commanding officers, the sentence was upheld on the rationale that they had a duty to refuse to act on orders that were given to them that violated the War Powers Act.

Keep in mind that the President, Members of Congress, and yes soldiers take an oath to defend the Constitution against attack both foreign or domestic. The oath is not to obey the President or a commanding officer, it is strictly to defend the Constitution and nothing else above it.

Therefore when they are given an order that defies the Constitution they have a duty to resist that order according to the Nuremberg trials, and report the attack on the Constitution. This is what Manning is being held in prison for - defending the Constitution.

His claimed offense, you might remember, was the Helicopter gunship killing reporters and civilians, and after the soldiers had found they had made a mistake and killed innocent people, their commander refused to take the wounded to the hospital. Manning sent the tapes to Wikileaks to inform the public of what had happened after the massacre of the civilians was covered up.

That says the Government was a crime. It seems it wasn't a crime to kill the people and cover it up, no the crime, says the Government was revealing the truth.